Chapter 7
“Why have things get busy after me meet ye?”
Amber said with a chuckle. I could only reply with a small sigh.
“It’s not that I want those things to happen.”
“Don’t worry, me only joking. It’s thanks to ye me could meet Nia.”
“I guess you’re right.”
We were standing in front of her ship. She did some final inspections before we departed, ensuring everything was running well.
“Me don’t usually do this. But with the recent developments, me feel obliged.”
“I don’t know if I should worry or not.”
I personally would rather not know about Amber’s maintenance schedule.
“Senpai, the systems are ready to go.”
Nia said as she poked her head out of the door. She had been tasked with turning on the ship, a part of Amber’s piloting lessons.
“Thanks. You can turn on the AC now.”
“Okay.”
Nia went back inside while Amber closed a small hatch to the compartment she was previously working on.
“What was that anyway?”
I asked, pointing towards the small hatch that she had just closed.
“Just Air Conditioning. Ye lucky me managed to fix it. If not, ye be hot today.”
Honestly, Air Conditioning wasn’t something I’m particularly worried about.
Amel and Emma had gone out to buy snacks. It felt like we were going on a field trip, not a hunting mission. A carriage then parked in front of the warehouse. Two figures came from within. One was Lisya, the other was a knight clad in bright silver armor.
The two walked up to us. Due to the size of the warehouse, it took them a while before they arrived at where we were standing. I decided to just pretend I’m busy buy touching random parts of the ship.
“That’s the waste compartment.”
“Do you really have to say that?”
“What even is ye trying to do?”
“Look busy. You didn’t expect me to stare at them as they walk closer, do you?”
“What’s wrong with that?”
By the time our exchange finished, the two arrived at the ship.
“This is Rahel. She’s a member of Alpha’s security bureau. She’ll be assisting with the operation.”
The person took a step forward. She then stopped, before pulling off her head armor. A soft face with long white hair tied in a ponytail appeared from under the armor.
“My name is Rahel. I’m an officer from Alpha’s Security Bureau. I will be assisting you in today’s investigation. I hope we can work together well.”
The one behind that armor turns out to be a girl. She saluted us, before extending her hand for a handshake.
“William.”
“Amber.”
We all took turns shaking the knight’s hand. Nia came out from the ship and shook her hand as well.
“Alright, I’ll be leaving you to this. Good luck.”
Lisya turned, and with a wave, drove away. I found it a bit funny how she’s always the one interacting with me as if all the other guild staff are just NPCs.
“Shall we depart?”
Rahel asked after Lisya left.
“No. We still have two other party members.”
I would like to mention the fact that they went to buy snacks, but concerning the discipline one usually has before being a knight, I decided against saying it. Rahel’s face stiffened, but it immediately went back to being relaxed.
“Sorry, I shouldn’t have mentioned the practices of knights to adventurers, it’s rude.”
She said with a slight bow. The two cademons looked confused, but they probably didn’t know what Rahel was about to say. I’m pretty sure she’s about to mention how knights weren’t supposed to be late, or something similar to that.
Soon enough, the two girls returned, a plastic bag in hand. At this point, I had decided to stop questioning this world’s logic.
Rahel looked surprised at their appearance, her eyes on the bags of snacks, but she quickly shook her head.
She tried to introduce herself as politely as possible, despite her gaze occasionally getting sidetracked by the snacks. It must have felt uncomfortable for someone with strict training like her to see the laid-back style of us adventurers.
“Anyway, regarding the camp you suspected, there is indeed a goblin camp located at the location you provided. Our troops are now on a scouting mission to find any other similar camps located in the vicinity.”
Rahel said with a serious expression. We all listened closely.
“Is it located exactly 5 km from the city walls?”
Rahel shook her head.
“It’s located 300 meters closer, but that was because there’s a lake behind it. The edge of the outer tents is located exactly beside the waterline. We’re facing an even larger group, 35 goblins.”
I wonder if there is any particular reason why this group is larger than the rest, or is it just a coincidence. One thing for sure, three camps were forming a near-perfect equilateral triangle.
After the briefing, we board Amber’s ship. Amber would be flying, Nia acting as the copilot. Amber’s ship had two cannons. The cannons, under normal circumstances, were linked to a headpiece used by the pilot. It will allow the cannon to follow the pilot’s gaze, allowing it to be used directly by the pilot.
But this time, that headpiece is unneeded. Emma would be taking the front gunner position. She would be using a computer that was located behind the cockpit. A gunner is preferable compared to the pilot shooting it themselves as it allowed the pilot to focus on flying.
Amber flicked through the switches on the dashboard and pushed the throttle. She pulled the stick, and the ship slowly lifted from the ground, slowly hovering backward, distancing itself from the large warehouse building. A camera showed the rear view of the ship. Amber then turned on the ship’s main engines and we flew away.
In no time, we departed the warehouse and headed straight for the goblin camp. The flight didn’t take long, and we could soon see the camp from the horizon.
“Remember, target the outer tents first.”
Amel gave Emma a reminder, to which she returned with a firm nod. While our mission is to destroy the camp, from what we’ve seen on the other camps, the leader will drop some sort of paper.
The ship’s cannon is considered very powerful, and in a world where boss drops could be destroyed, we wouldn’t be taking risks. Emma would simply lower the number of enemies around, and we’ll finish the rest ourselves.
“Emma, now!”
Nia called from the cockpit. Emma gripped her stick and fired toward the group of goblins. The goblins were caught off guard, and many fell. Those who survived tried to fight back with what they had... which meant throwing simple wooden spears into the air. Of course, it did not do any damage. After reducing the number pretty significantly, Amel opened the door. Amber had switched the controls over to Nia, so that she could learn to fly. She lowered the ship, just enough so we could safely jump off.
Amel jumped off, followed by Rahel, followed by me. Despite jumping off, the truth is I didn’t know what to do. I am standing behind the two girls fighting their way towards the main tent. There were the few occasional goblins appearing from behind that I could take care of, but with the two girls in front of me, I can’t fire forward.
I ended up simply watching the whole ordeal unfold. After a solid 7 minutes of fighting, we managed to clear out the remaining goblins. Without an insanely powerful sniper rifle burning his head, the goblin general took a slight bit longer to finish, but we succeeded anyway.
We started exploring the camp.
“The exact same piece of paper.”
Amel picked up the mysterious paper from the ground.
“What is that?”
Rahel asked while looking at it from beside her. The three other girls appeared from the tent’s door.
Amel showed the girls the piece of paper, to which she received a frown as a reply.
“The same gibberish...”
“Do you mind if I keep that for investigation?”
“Of course, we have two of those. We don’t need a third one.”
Amel said as she gave Rahel the paper. Rahel thanked her, before asking that she give it once we arrived back at Alpha. There’s nothing on Rahel’s armor that could fit the paper now.
“Something is definitely wrong. You think there’s something in the center of all these camps?”
I could follow Emma’s line of thinking, although the others seemed to misunderstand her words.
“But there’s nothing in the center of these camps?”
“Not, I don’t mean these individual camps, rather, the center of these three camps. These three camps form a triangle, I was wondering if there’s something in the middle of that triangle.”
Amel and Rahel let out a small ‘ah’ before nodding.
“Should we find out, then?”
We traced the location of the supposed triangle back to Alpha. We stopped by the bureau’s headquarters to drop off the paper, before resuming on our trip. In front of us, was the building of the adventurers guild. Alpha was not a perfect circle, and while all three camps are located 5 km from the city walls, they were not located the same distance from the city center.
We slowly pushed the gates. Inside, Raben and Lisya were having a conversation. Now that I thought about it, how many times have I seen those two together? Near them, another group of adventurers was having a drink. My boba stall was less crowded now, but there was still a long line in front of it. Seeing us return, Lisya was about to greet us, before realizing the fact that Rahel was still with us.
She signaled us to follow her, and we followed her into one of the larger meeting rooms at the back of the guild.
“Is there anything suspicious going on in the guild recently?”
Rahel went straight to the point, her face and voice dead serious. Amel looked at her for a while, before moving her gaze toward the rest of us. Emma, Rahel, and I were the only ones sitting on the sofa, with Lisya sitting across from us. The other three were standing behind us.
“Weird...? I’m afraid I need a more clear definition of weird before I could answer.”
“You see, all three camps’ leaders had a piece of paper recovered near their bodies when they die. The guild building is located in the center of the triangle of camps, so we thought these two might be linked.”
Amel puts her hand on her chin, leaning back on her couch. She looked toward the ceiling, before returning to us with a head shake.
“I’m sorry, I can’t think of anything.”
“I see. That’s fine. I hope you’ll notify us when something comes up.”
Rahel extends her hand for a handshake, to which Lisya replied with an awkward shake.
“I’m sorry I can’t be of much help.”
“That’s fine.”
We parted ways with Lisya and headed outside.
“I need to make a report and discuss this with my comrades. We’ll notify you of any advancements.”
She said as she waved her hand and walked away. After another weird event, we once again returned to our home.